


The fire

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chance Meetings, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4528749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin gets his lazy butt up off the couch just on time to see a bin on fire across the street. He calls the emergency number.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The fire

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, not beta'd.
> 
> Exciting 30 minutes had to be turned into a story.

Merlin stretched and scratched his belly. It was a ridiculously hot day and he had spent it mostly on his couch, watching a new tv-show on DVD. The wind outside had picked up a bit, so Merlin decided to not only open the door to his balcony, but a window on the other side of his place. 

When he stood at the window, his breath caught. Across the street were the bins for the other house and from the far corner, Merlin saw bright flames. His heart was beating faster. What could he do? 

Without thinking, he reached for his mobile and called the emergency line, where he gave his name and address and described what he was seeing. While he talked, someone in the other house poured a bucket of water out of the second floor window. 

The man at the other end of the line promised to send someone and hung up. Merlin didn’t know what to do. Did they need to know that it had been him calling? He grabbed a t-shirt from the back of a chair and made his way downstairs, just in case. 

While he waited, the people in the other house poured more water and there was a lot of smoke. Where were the firefighters?

After what felt like a small eternity, Merlin heard and saw them approaching, so he waved and stopped them.

“Over there!”

A tall man in the pants of a firefighter and a t-shirt turned to him. “You’re the one who called?”

Merlin nodded. “Yes, I live over there and was just about to open my window when I noticed the fire.” He shrugged apologetically. “I think the water they poured out of the window extinguished it already, though.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it, no matter what’s still left. Thanks for calling.”

Others had already approached the bin and pulled it away from the others. 

“It’s only a large cardboard box, Perce,” another one of the firefighters, a blond with eyes so blue that Merlin noticed them from the distance, called over. 

“Can you pull it out, Arthur?” It seemed the tall one they called Perce had already forgotten about Merlin as he turned towards the already-out fire. 

Merlin just stood about and felt a bit redundant. He stepped out of the way, unsure if he was still needed or if he could leave, so he watched the firefighters work. He felt a bit stupid but he had just reacted. How could he have known that someone else would put the fire out?

But when the blond, Arthur, pulled the cardboard box out and opened it using a shovel, new flames came up. “Whoa!”

“Step aside, princess!” Another firefighter held a small hose and pointed it at the fire. In no time, the fire was out, the cardboard box that was once filled with more cardboard was a soggy mess and Merlin jumped back because the water started flowing towards him. 

“He’s hot, Gwaine, but I doubt water will help.” Arthur laughed.

Merlin blinked. Had this God of a firefighter just talked about him? He thought he was hot? Merlin felt a fierce blush show on his face. 

He watched as another one of the group started to shovel the remainders of the cardboard into one of the bins while the one with the hose sprayed water over Arthur’s boots to clean them. 

As they started to pack up, the blond came over. “Did I get that right, you’re the one who called?”

Merlin was so mesmerized by the way Arthur’s lips moved that he only nodded a moment too late. “Yes. I’m sorry that this wasn’t as large as it first looked.”

Arthur laughed and Merlin’s stomach did funny things. “We’re quite happy that it wasn’t.”

“But you came here for basically nothing.” 

“Don’t worry. We rather come here for something like that than being too late for a really huge thing. So,” Arthur pulled a little notebook out of a pocket of his pants. “I need your data for…the record.”

Gwaine passed Arthur by and ran into his arm on purpose. “For the record, yes.” He laughed.

Merlin once again gave his name and pointed to his house. “I live over there in number 2. That’s where I saw the fire when I opened the window to let some air in.” He didn’t know why he babbled but he felt very self-conscious all of a sudden. Every single one of the firefighters was a looker and he stood there in his ragged shorts that bore a stain where he had some ice cream earlier and a t-shirt that he’d worn a bit too often already. On top of it, he was barefoot. 

“Could you give me your phone number again? We might have to contact you for more info.”

Merlin gave his number again. “I’ve told you everything I saw already, but if you need that again later, sure. I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

“And your date of birth?”

Merlin told the fireman when he had been born and where, all the while staring at the blue eyes, not noticing that the other firefighters laughed and shook their heads. 

While they were packing up, police arrived. 

“That’s all, thank you again for calling.” Arthur stored his notepad away and climbed onto the truck, winking at Merlin when they drove away.

“So you’re the one who called?” 

Merlin blinked. “Yes, I did.”

It was a bit strange that the policewoman asked the exact same questions and the way she exchanged a look with her colleague when he mentioned that the firefighter had taken down his info already, was even weirder. Still, he dutifully recounted what had happened, who he was and where he could be reached. 

He made his way back to his place a while later, cursing himself that he hadn’t at least put on some decent clothes and shoes before he ran down to the street. He tossed the t-shirt aside again and paced his place, unsure what to do. He couldn’t go back to watching his DVD. Maybe he should call Gwen and tell her about his adventures? But what kind of adventure was that? “Hey, Gwen, I’ve called the firefighters because of a fire but when they showed up, it was already out and they were really hot.” He could practically see Gwen eyerolling in his mind and ask him if he at least got one of them to notice him or if he would put fire to things now to see them again. No, he couldn’t call her, this wasn’t worth it. 

While he paced his place, his mobile rang. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, Merlin.”

“Err…who’s this?”

“You just called us. I’m Arthur.”

Merlin didn’t know what to say. Arthur? Arthur, the blond firefighter? He almost giggled at the thought. It sounded too much like Bob, the builder. “Err…hi.”

“Thanks again for calling us.”

Merlin frowned, even though he chuckled. “Do you do that with everybody who dials the emergency number?”

“Actually, no.” Arthur laughed. “I just thought…you said you had nothing special to do tonight and…”

The others laughed in the background and Merlin felt himself blush again. “And?”

“Listen, I’d like to ask you out. It’s just…I can’t leave, my shift won’t be over until 8 am, but I hoped we could talk a bit?” 

Merlin grinned widely. “Like…a phone date?”

“Yes! Like a phone date! I like that. And if we find out we are hungry in the morning, I could pick you up and we could go for breakfast?”

Smiling, Merlin nodded. “I’d like that very much.”


End file.
